


Curiosity Killed the Cat

by pinkieprimpotter



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Flirting, Identity Reveal, funny that I just tagged the same two people in 5 different ways
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-05-09 03:44:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5524184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkieprimpotter/pseuds/pinkieprimpotter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>But satisfaction brought it back. </p><p>Chat Noir and Ladybug have just finished off a piano-playing akuma-infected musician. however, while they are leaving, Chat believes he has seen something he probably should have never known, no matter how much he wanted to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Musician

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are appreciated!

Music notes were sifting through the air gracefully, almost dancing, attaching to the listener. It sucked the spirit out of them, leaving them with the tune playing endlessly in their mind.

Chat Noir and Ladybug were bending over backwards to avoid being touched by any of the notes - literally. The staff of the music wrapped around the victim like a bubble, enchanting them with music that steadily became louder. 

 There was a note rushing towards Ladybug, and Chat was pouncing to her immediately. The treble clef, wrapped around her biceps. The lines of the staff it was on grew downwards, deep black stretching to her fingertips. The top of it wrapped around her back and shoulders, and her neck was slowly being kissed by the music. 

"My lady, you're music to me, but you shouldn't be wrapped up in this mess," Chat said, a  wink and grin settling onto his face smoothly. Her eyes rolled back, the music giving her a headache that was more painful than she thought it would be.

"Can you do this later?" she asked, trying to pull her arms from the lines.  He shrugged, used his cataclysm to melt away the music, and she shoved him quickly to the side. She eyed the tall person, their fingers were long and narrow. The only strange thing she noticed about the music playing demon was the pocket with music stuffed in it. 

"Chat! The akuma is in the sheet music!" she shouted, spinning her yo-yo to keep the next few music notes away from her.

Chat ran and slid beneath the music that was blasting from the air around the musician. He used his staff to trip the musician, but it was as though a minor mistake was made in the performance, and he was being attacked before he could count a half rest. 

 The music staff, a bass clef, wrapped around him, and, as though teasing him, started blasting orchestral love music whenever he looked at Ladybug. Each victim heard a completely different song that meant something to them, and it changed depending on what or  _who_ they were looking at, and it definitely was getting on his nerves. He couldn't struggle as the music became louder and the staff tightened around him. He glared at the concrete and thought of anything but her. The love music faded away, and only blared ironic music inside his head to continue hurting him, a song about pretty kitties playing as loud as possible. The music staff melted down his legs, and wound up his chest and around his arms. The musician was giggling, fingers moving wildly  mid-air as though playing the piano. 

"Ladybug!" he shouted. She swung her yo-yo around the musician's hands and slid beneath them to pull them down and reach Chat. As she passed below them, she grabbed the music from their pocket. She ripped it to shreds, and wasted no time in catching the akuma. As quickly as the music started, it ended. Chat relaxed as the music staff melted away and he could breathe once again. 

"Bye-bye, little butterfly," Ladybug whispered, smiling at the fluttering white butterfly. 

Chat was dizzy and tired, and Ladybug was mildly annoyed. This was the third akuma they'd dealt with that week - and it was only Tuesday.

"Chat, you're miraculous is almost out. Better get a move on, huh?" she said, a sideways smile falling into place. She placed a hand on her hip, an eyebrow raised, and she was relaxed again. 

"Darn," Chat murmured, biting his lip lightly. "And here I was, hoping that you'd make some more music with me." His sentence was finished with a wink, followed by Ladybug rolling her eyes. she playfully pushed him. 

"Maybe some other time, silly kitty," she said. With that, she was dashing to a dark alley to hide. Chat smiled, and pounced to the roofs and was running as well. Unfortunately, there was light that distracted him. Like a kitten finding a ball of string, he watched curiously. He watched the yellow-red light mold into a person, and a small red creature fall from the earrings Ladybug was wearing.

The bright light that clouded Ladybug clung to her and formed her regular clothes as she returned to being Marinette, and Chat nearly fell off of the roof. He gripped the gutters tightly, as though his life depended on it, and watched with wide eyes. 

Ladybug was Marinette.

Marinette was Ladybug.

Confident and attractive Ladybug was Marinette.

Shy and intelligent Marinette was Ladybug. 

She giggled at something in her bag, looked around suspiciously around the corner, and began running down the street towards the bakery.

Chat Noir, coming back to his senses, yelped, and dashed away. He was running across roofs, climbing up buildings, and rushing to his house faster than he thought possible.

He tore open his window and jumped inside. 

Black bubbles ran up his legs and arms and he was once again Adrien. He slid down the wall, completely stunned. 

He blinked, and his brain was refusing to process what he just saw. What was he supposed do say to her tomorrow at school? Should he drop hints that he was Chat to be fair? Should he pretend he never saw her? He was nearly hyperventilating, and he had  _no idea what he was going to do._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This feels a little rushed, so if you guys want a different end scene, let my know what you want!
> 
> Or if anything is rushed - I didn't really like it and I'm willing to rewrite it!

_Ladybug swung her yo-yo around Chat Noir._  
  
_"Who do you even think you are?" she snarled, angry painting every corner of her voice. "What, were you worried your precious Ladybug was going to be some regular girl and you just had to know that she was everything and more?"_  
  
_Her lips were so tightly pulled into the face of disgust, it may as well have been painted on. Her eyes were not the blue that he had grown fond of, and instead they were nearly black and full of dark, ominous rage._  
  
_"You don't deserve to know!" she shouted, and pulled the yo-yo tighter - it was now cutting into his skin. He felt blood beginning to drip and his throat was closing._  
  
_"I'm sorry," he began, breathlessly. He glared at the yo-yo, silently pleading for it to melt away, and he struggled beneath the strings of the yo-yo, and she gripped his jaw and tore it upwards to look her in her seemingly dead eyes._  
  
_"You aren't sorry. You're disgusting," she spit at him._  
  
  
  
Adrien woke up covered in sweat and out of breath. It was all a dream, and he wasn't being attacked by his lady. He sat up and clutched his chest.  
  
He flung his legs over his bed - sore, bruises kissing dots all across his body - and he started his morning routine - brushing his teeth, panicking over what he was going to do, combing his hair, stressing over what he should say to Marinette, getting dressed...  
  
He wandered to the dining room in a daze. Natalie told him what he needed to do that day (of course he had a photo shoot the day he had gotten 0 sleep), food was placed in front of him(who could be hungry while they were so stressed?), but he ignored everything until he reached school. He wiped his face and set his head down onto his desk, listening to people flooding into the classroom. He heard Ayla talking with Marinette, and he jumped up as if he were on fire, and Marinette was the water to put him out.  
  
"Good morning, Marinette!" he nearly shouted at her, and his voice was tight. She looked at him, confusion replacing his vision of disgust. He smiled kindly at her, and gave a little wave. It was a miracle he didn't collapse on the spot. Her cheeks became as red as her suit.  
  
"Hello morning! I mean, I meant to say hello but then I wanted to say good morning but then I couldn't decide so I guess it came out as hello morning..um," she stumbled her way through the sentence, and her ears were fading into deep shade of red that could put wine to shame. Adrien stared at her, his mouth set determinedly, while he was desperately trying to picture Ladybug's mask laying perfectly on her face.  
  
She knew Chat Noir - both as Ladybug and as Marinette. He considered visiting her that night, to simply discuss the matter at hand. Fair was fair, right? Maybe he could show up and invite her out and tell her someplace relaxing. He hoped that would help keep her from being too angry with him.   
  
However, it would be sort of fun to play around for a while. He pulled a light lopsided grin at the thought. Marinette knew him as Chat, but didn't know Adrien was Chat, and  _oh, the games he could play._  
  
  
  
  
Late at night, when his dark suit could blend in with the stars behind him, and only the city lights could guide his path to Marinette's house, he jumped from house to house with growing speed. He was worried, and, quite honestly, a bit of mess in terms of his nerves. He was scared and panicky, but he was excited, too. He grinned widely as he dropped soundlessly on the balcony and tapped gently on the window. He gripped his tail lightly and twirled it as he waited.   
  
"Princess?" he whispered in a voice that was just barely loud enough to kiss the air around him. It wasn't until he knocked on the glass that Marinette's face appeared. Her hair was down, she had light dark circles underneath her eyes that hung like the stars in the sky, and   She rolled her eyes, but opened the doors. As she returned to her bed, she threw her arm out lightly, implying that if he wanted in he better do it and sit somewhere. He leaned back against the door, and shined his claws on suit. He admired the gleam of them   
  
"You know, my princess, it's quite rude to leave pretty kitties out on the cold," he said, giving a quick wink.   
  
"Oh no, whatever will Paris do with a cat with a cold?" she said dryly. He relaxed greatly - if she was making jokes, maybe telling her would be easier.   
  
"You hurt me, my dear," Chat replied, feigning a pretty pout, one hand gripping his chest as though he'd been shot. Marinette raised an eyebrow, and flicked his nose.   
  
"What do you want? I've got homework to do," she mumbled, returning to her seat on her bed. She hovered over several sheets of math and Chat cringed. He didn't even pull his out of his backpack yet. Her pencil was scratching across the paper, probably as messy as his thought process, and she stuck her tongue out in focus.   
  
"I thought you would be  _feline_  up for a little fun tonight," he said, and, when she barely even turned her head from her work, he gave a vaguely jealous scoff. "You know, Princess, I'm far more _entertaining_ than _math_ , _"_  he said, placing one on her shoulder. He ran his other hand down her arm, dragging the very tip of his claws along her skin.  
  
"Right, I'm sure you are," she said flatly, focusing entirely on her homework. She struggled with the concept, and she needed practice not entertainment. She marked a few more answers, and watched as Chat became more agitated. It was both endearing ad hilarious. The tip of her pencil snapped, and she heaved a heavy sigh. She shrugged his hands of her and ignored obnoxious cat's complaints to her desk, searching underneath a thick coating of fabrics, notebooks, and erasers for another pencil or a pencil sharpener. Chat took quiet steps to her, a vague pang of irritation hidden deep in his chest. So Marinette could shrug off  _Chat_ , but when he was  _Adrien_ , she couldn't form a single coherent sentence?   
  
"Now you're ignoring your kitten too?" he asked as she was searching, bringing his lips near her ear. He was pressed lightly against her. Marinette swung her head to the side and narrowed her eyes.  
  
"I'm going to kick you out if you don't knock it off," she snarled.  Soon, she knew, she would have to transform and go out for patrol. She gave a quick glance to her window. The warm spring evening left trails of color across the buildings that she would soon be dancing across to the annoying  _cat who was still in her room._  
  
Chat pressed his lips to her ear. He gave another light kiss behind her ear.  
  
"Ah, but do you really want me to go?" he purred after pressing a more bold kiss the part of her jaw that connected her chin to her ears. For a second, he hoped she would say something among the lines of ' _no, I really would like you to stay and kiss me some more!'_

She turned around to cast a strong glare.   
  
"Look, alley cat, do you even _see_ how much homework I have? Unless you're going to save the day and help me, then you can see yourself out," she said instead, annoyance very clear in her voice. 

Chat pulled back, his back straightening out. He crossed his arms defensively across his chest, and glared at Marinette. 

"Well, we're going to have some actual fun because you seem in dire need of it, my darling," he said crossly. He placed his hands on his hips. "I'm going to show you all of Paris tonight!"

She sighed, her shoulders drawing forward. She let the extra weight toppling forward lead her back to her bed. 

"You're forgetting, cat, that  _I live here,"_ she said, pulling all of her papers together and tidying them.

Chat lips curled into a smile that could rival the sun. 

"But have you seen it with me?" he asked, his voice a quiet, low purr. 

She considered this for a minute, and looked at him suspiciously. 

"Fine, but only one place and it needs to be tomorrow night," she said. "But for now, you need to get out, I have stuff to do." 

Chat grinned like the Cheshire cat. He knew that she was trying to get him to leave so she could transform and visit him once again. He couldn't wait to see her lovely blue eyes once again. 

Because he was Chat Noir.

And Chat Noir was him. 

So he was confident and flirtatious, and, boy, he couldn't wait to apply that to Marinette as Adrien. 


	3. Energy Drinks to the Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which i don't title this chapter correctly and adrien and marinette will hang out when i actually write it but's 2:30 in the morning and i'll write it tomorrow afternoon but here's a snippet for the next chapter which will hopefully be longer tomorrow!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> writing a new chapter at 2 am more like kill me but anyhow  
> ta da  
> Let me know in the comments if you want to see anything in upcoming chapters or if you want me to change anything in this chapter!

As Adrien walked into class, he ran through several of the plans he created the night before when he returned home from patrol. He slouched in his seat, the underneath of his eyes were dark and heavy with lack of sleep from thinking of such plans coupled with an akuma attack the previous evening that lasted until 1 in the morning. He set his head in his hand. 

One plan he created was that he pulled her aside after the next akuma attack, and just let Chat fall away from him. Perhaps that would be the easiest since it would be right after a fight, and she would be too tired to even react. Another plan of his was to visit her late at night and ask her to please close her eyes or something and surprise her. Maybe he could joke about the posters of him as she's opening her eyes. His third plan was to take her to lunch or invite her over to his house as Adrien and tell her very quietly. He could drop plenty of hints on the way there and admit it to her when they reach his home? H wasn't wuite sure yet. He watched the door with a mild interest. Alix came in, Chloe and Sabrina were strutting in and chatting loudly. Alya, Nino...

Marinette, clumsy as ever and just as tired, tripped twice on her way to her seat. She stood briefly beside it as she talked with Alya and Nino and set down her bag. Alya was spewing the story of Ladybug and Chat Noir's latest akuma battle - a young boy this time had been infected with the purple stained glass like butterfly. - and Nino was laughing and contributing to her story by showing Marinette the texts he was receiving from Alya the entire time.

"Oh, it was amazing!" Alya was saying. She flung her hands around animatedly. "Ladybug's lucky charm this time was a tube of chapstick - can you believe it?" 

"What did you give her?" Marinette said to Nino. Then, she rubbed her right temple. "Actually, scratch that. I don't really care right now." She yawned and rubbed her eyes, laying on the desk in front of her.

Nino, knowing it was finals week, had kept several energy drinks in his bag. When Alya texted him that she was beyond exhausted from studying and updating the ladyblog over the recent events until 3 in the morning, he made sure to pack a few extras in his bag. He pulled one out, offering it to Marinette with a knowing smile. She gave him an incredibly friendly thank you hug.

"Bless your soul, Nino, you're a real friend," she said happily. She popped it open, and took a sip. 

"Hey, Marinette?" he said. She took another few sips before even acknowledging she was being spoken to.

"Yeah?" she barely mumbled in response.

"Can I have a sip of that?" he asked. She handed it to him and set her head back on her desk. 

"God, I am exhausted," she said. An extended and irritated groan grew from Nino and Alya. Adrien slammed his head on his desk. "I could sleep for a solid week." 

Adrien sighed. 

"Me, too. I bet I'm going to fail because I fell asleep," Adrien said. 

"Honestly though, I barely even studied," Alya said. "So I'm prepared to fail."

"Same," Nino said. Adrien nodded numbly. Of course, he would probably only fail because he was tired since he had studied with Marinette the past few nights. Even if he was Chat Noir at the time, she needed help in science, and he needed help in English.

Eventually, Nino and Alya began talking to each other, and Adrien smiled at Marinette. Her cheeks darkened slightly.

"I think you'll do well, Mari," he said, smiling at her. She sat up straighter at the use of 'Mari' versus 'Marinette.'

"I don't know, I've been struggling with science and stuff lately," she said, staring at her desk, stressed and nervous. 

"Maybe we could  _study_ together at lunch," he said. He wondered if a wink was too much given his implication of doing anything but study, but he did it anyway, and smirked at Marinette's suddenly flushed face.

"That would be great!" she said, stumbling over each word. Adrien would have said something else to her, but nerves caught up to him. He realized he still had her drink and blushed. 

"Uh, I think this is yours," he mumbled, and quickly returned to his seat.

"Sit down!" the English teacher in the front shouted. She set down her coffee cup carefully, and glared at her students. "There will be 80 questions, multiple choice, about literary devices and appropriately analyzing them, and one essay question. Please fill the bubbles in entirely…"

Adrien stopped listening at that point. He could barely keep his eyelids open. He wished he took another sip of her energy drink, but that would be rude. He rubbed his eyes and wondered vaguely about how to see Marinette as Chat that evening when he was so tired. He would probably end up falling asleep in her bed and needing to leave somewhere in the hours of the morning where the first few shades of orange were painted on the horizon of the city. Would she be angry? Would she be annoyed or scared?  To put it simply, Adrien was excited. More than he had ever been. But he was also terrified. He supposed that it was okay. After all, fear is the best motivator.


	4. Piano Playing and Bad Jokes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which I rushed to write something because I haven't updated in forever

When class _finally_ ended, Adrien thought he face would split. His green eyes glittered with excitement, and he was sure he nearly gave himself whiplash by flipping around so quickly. Marinette was slowly, so very slowly, putting her notebook into her bag. She smiled nervously, and her face was lightly flushed.

 

“Alright, so the music hall has those rooms for practice and stuff. We could work on science there? It would be quiet,” Adrien suggested. His nerves were frayed at the ends, and he hoped he could pull himself together enough to _actually_ help her study. He liked her, and thought she was brave and talented and beautiful, but he knew she struggled with science. He sincerely didn’t want her to fail.

Of course, when do his plans actually work?

 

As soon as they reached the music hall way, Adrien ushered her into the one with a piano. If things got boring, he thought he could show her something on it. Her face was a deep red, and he was legitimately concerned that she would pass out.

 

He sat on the piano bench, facing the door, and set his backpack aside.

 

“So, biology then?” he asked. She nodded.

 

“I’m confused a little on hox genes,” she said. Adrien pulled out a notebook and began to write down some short handed notes for her.

 

“So basically, hox genes are kind of like the blueprint for a person. They tell a cell what its going to be a part of so that it can make that thing. Like an arm, or a liver,” Adrien said. He began to jot down quick little notes with her. She truly did try to focus on what he was writing, she really did. Unfortunately, it seemed her mind had other plans.

 

She wondered what it would be like if they did this all time. Studying, hanging out, being friends. Maybe he would say he liked her, and she could say he liked him, and they could go do something. She smiled at the thought.

 

“Do you have any questions, Mari?” Adrien asked suddenly. Her eyes had glazed over and while he appreciated a second to look at them properly, he wanted her to know what was going to be on the test.

 

“Huh?” she said, and her eyes snapped onto the page before her. She flushed. She had no idea what he said. She heaved a sigh and began to pout. “I don’t even know what I don’t know at this point.”

 

Adrien shrugged.

“It happens sometimes. You know, I could teach you something else. Like a short song on the piano,” he said, the end of the sentence lifted as though he were going to lead it into another one.

“Unfortunately, I can’t play the piano. I like the violin though!” she answered. He hummed.

 

“Do you think we could make some music together?” he asked, a lovely little smirk playing on his lips. Of course, he pretended to be oblivious to her suddenly cherry red cheeks.

 

If he wanted her to figure out that he was Chat without directly telling her, he would really need to lay the flirting on thick.

 

He flipped around on the piano bench and looked at the keys. He wondered which song would be good enough for sweet Mari to hear from him.

 

Of course he would choose to play “What’s New Pussycat?” by Tom Jones. He began to sing along with the melody, though horribly. Marinette smiled, and her eyes became cloudy.

 

“You know, what’s funny? That song makes me think of a friend of mine,” Marinette bubbled. Adrien raised an eyebrow.

 

“I hope they’re nice,” he responded. She nodded.

 

“Yeah. Anyway, the bell is about to ring. We should head back.” At this, Adrien deflated only slightly.

 

“Yeah, alright.”

 

“Do you want to do this tomorrow?”

 

“That would be great!”

 

Adrien nodded. When they returned, Alya interrogated the two of them.

 

The school day dragged on almost endlessly. He watched the hands of the clock tick away, willing them to move faster. He needed the day to be over so he could go on his not-a-date-because-she-lives-here-but-it’s-totally-a-date with Marinette. He was going to take her to a certain chimney. It was made of brick and the roof was falling apart, but the lights in the distance were beautiful. Streaks of orange and yellow painted the sky at the very edges, and whenever he was there, he felt like he needed to get closer to the end of it. Just above it was always the dark sky with the smallest balls of light, like eyelashes with tears. He could easily imagine Marinette seeing it for the first time and feeling as happy as he did. He could picture her small pink lips falling apart in shock, and her beautiful blue eyes growing wide. Perhaps she’d be so pleased with it, she’d hug him? Maybe she’d kiss his cheek. Maybe he could give her a little peck.

 

“Adrien! Can you repeat what Juleka has just stated?” the teacher accused.

He glanced at the board at what the teacher wrote. It was, once again, hox genes. He was beginning to sense a pattern…

 

“Hox genes are impressive because they’re in the order of which they show on the organism?”

 

The teacher’s lips pulled tightly together.

 

“Correct,” she nearly spat. “But pay better attention.”

 

“Yes, ma’am.”

 

The end of the day rolled around, and Adrien was ready to pass out, but the thought that his princess was waiting for him made him transform and sprint to her building.

 

“Princess?” he murmured, tapping the glass lightly. He saw her face appear a second later.

 

He knew she was beautiful, she always had been. But now, with the small distance between them,  he could see her freckles. Her lips were a few shades darker than he remembered. He wonder if she wore lipstick.Or did she bite them? He didn’t know, but whatever it was, it caused him to feel dizzy. Her outfit was undeniably adorable, and her hair was loose. She probably designed it and made it herself. A small bag lay against her hip.

 

His grin was widening quickly.

 

“So, my darling, are you ready to go?” he asked. He wondered briefly if he sounded flirty enough.

 

“In just a second, I’m going to grab my coat,” she sighed. “How cold is it outside?”

 

“It’s summer. So, not at all?”

 

Marinette rolled her eyes as she slipped a tan cardigan on.

 

“Summer still has wind, you know. Anyway, where are you taking me?”

 

“I guess you’ll find out,” Chat stated, a wink punctuating it. Marinette climbed out of her window and was led by Chat’s gloved hands.

 

“You sound like a serial killer, Chat.”

 

Chat pretended to swipe a paw at her. He licked his lips.

 

“Maybe I am.”

  
Marinette hit him with her bag.  


	5. The Roof by the Sunrise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao i just realized i haven't updated since February 10 and this update is super short  
> Sorry!

Chat Noir held her close as he pounced from Marinette's roof to the next. He bit his lip whenever he thought about revealing to her that not only did he know who she was, but he was Adrien Agreste. 

His feet landed lightly on building after building. 

"Chat, where exactly are we going again?" Marinette said. 

"It's a secret, Princess."

"Okay,  _that's_ not helpful." 

"Somewhere beautiful?"

Marinette rolled her eyes at his response. In her mind, somewhere beautiful for Chat was probably really cheesy. She sighed and clung even tighter to him. 

_Turn left at the house with the patterned roof tiles, take a right at the house with the huge garden..._

Chat landed lightly on the roof and stopped. 

"Here we are!" he said cheerfully. Marinette took a step away from Chat and gasped. 

It was beautiful. The chimney was falling apart slightly, and the roof tiles were falling off entirely, but the  _lights._ They painted the sky with the most brilliant oranges and reds, as though an artist of the past had gotten a single day to paint the sky however they wanted. 

"It's amazing," Marinette breathed. "How did you even find it?" 

"Well," Chat began. "I sort of changed back after an akuma attack. Then I didn't want to try and leave as me so I waited here until I could change back. It was really pretty so I-"

Marinette wrapped her arms around him. When she pulled away, she was positively going to explode from excitement. 

"Chat Noir, you are amazing! This is great! I could make a skirt or dress with this color palette. It's so beautiful!" she rambled. She was practically buzzing. Chat placed his hand carefully onto her shoulder.

"Aside from you apparently never ending eye for beautiful things, like me of course, we need to talk." 

Marinette paused, and let out a light breathy laugh. 

"About what?"

Chat could see how she tensed up. Her smile wasn't as wide, her eyebrows tugged upward and inward to form an almost panicked look, and her shoulders locked into place. He almost wished he hadn't said anything at all, but he couldn't take back his words. It wasn't possible to breathe them and hold them in his system after he spat them out. 

"About you," Chat said. "Ladybug." 

Her mouth fell open. Her eyes widened and her breathing became a little uneven. 

"How-you-I?" she sputtered. She didn't even know where to start. Her identity had been revealed to the person she was trying so hard to avoid telling. She gripped the side of the chimney to steady herself. "You-you, Chat!"

Chat backed up and held up two hands. 

"It wasn't on purpose, I swear! After the music akuma, I was on the roof by the alley you transformed in and I saw light and-"

"Who are you?" 

"What?" At this point, Chat was worried that he was in trouble with his lady _and_ sounding rather foolish. He cleared his throat awkwardly. 

"Who are you, Chat Noir?" Her voice had properties of steel in it, and her eyes were full of irritation. "You can't say you know who I am and not tell me. That's not fair."

"Can I suggest a game?"

"Gee, it's almost like you don't want someone to know your secret identity. No." 

"Er-Adrien," he said while shrugging. He gave a nervous laugh and watched Marinette carefully. He could almost see her processing the information in her head. 

"Adrien Agreste?"

At his name, he took a small bow.

"At your service, my lady."

Marinette rubbed her forehead. She tied it was an agitated sigh. 

"Are you kidding me right now? _Seriously?"_   

"I'm completely serious," Chat said, his voice laced with confusion. Marinette stuttered for a few seconds become groaning. 

"Tikki!" A small red blob appeared from her bag. 

"I  _told_ you it would be fine!" she said. 

"All this time they were the same person, Tikki!" 

"I  _know_ ," Tikki said. 

"The. Same. Person," she repeated. 

Tikki smiled. 

"Chat, would you please de-transform? I'd like to speak with Plagg, please," Tikki said kindly. 

"Sure," he said. The black green bubbles ran from his shoes up his body to rustling his hair. 

Plagg flowed near Tikki like a leaf in a stream. 

"Tikki! It's been so long!" he said. 

Marinette and Adrien watched as they exchanged pleasantries and questions about the past few months. 

Then, Tikki flicked plagg's head. 

" _Why_ exactly did your miraculous know who mine was? Why didn't you have him tell her? That was so rude!"

Plagg rubbed his head. 

"Fair point, I guess, but this was far more entertaining! The boy was a mess!"

Adrien's cheeks turned red. 

"That doesn't matter. Marinette didn't know. It was unfair."

"Sorry, bug," Plagg mumbled. There was an awkward pause after it. 

"This is not what I envisioned," Adrien muttered to Marinette. 

Another long, awkward pause. 

"Anyway," Marinette started. "Anybody up for ice cream?" 


	6. Goodbye to a World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> okay so i have no excuse for this but im tired so

Marinette stuck her spoon straight into the sweet green ice cream and let it stand there for a few moments. The two teens sat on the roof, and had been there for several hours. If Marinette were to guess, she would say it was probably around one in the morning.  The cooling oranges no longer melted with the soothing reds. Instead, the darkness painted every inch of the city. The scattered lights looked like stars, and it truly was the most stunning place that Marinette had seen. If she weren't so shocked and hurt, it may have been even more beautiful than the sunset. She had been quiet for several minutes. Her head was resting in hand as she glared out of the window. Adrien sat awkwardly next to her, fiddling with his thumbs. He watched Marinette carefully as though she would yell at him if he moved. She was hurt, and he didn't want to bother her any more than he had to. 

Finally, she sighed. 

"I'm sorry," Adrien said quickly. At this, Marinette glanced at him and then continued to stare past him. 

There were a million things she wanted to say to him. Some of which were nicer than others, and some of which were cruel and meant to make him feel guilty for causing her so much confusion and stress. She wanted to yell at him, tell him how rude what he did was. She wanted to hug him and tell him that she understood why he waited to tell her. She wanted to push him and tell him that she never wanted to speak to him again. She wanted to hold his hand and tell him how happy she was that the people she liked were one and the same. She said none of them, instead choosing to remain completely conflicted for the time being. 

"I was trying to figure out how to tell you," he mumbled. His eyes were focused on her reactions to every word. 

"You should have started off with 'Marinette, are you Ladybug?'" she snapped. She immediately felt bad for behaving so poorly and acting so aggressively, but honesty is the best policy. Right? 

"I know, but I thought you'd be angry with me!"

"You thought that betraying my trust was better than just saying you saw me detransform?" 

"Marinette, that isn't fair."

"Because what you did was?" 

Adrien's mouth snapped shut. Marinette's face flushed and she spluttered for a few seconds. 

"I'm sorry, I don't really mean that," she stuttered. Adrien's head was bowed and he stared quite contentedly at his lap. 

"If you didn't mean it, you wouldn't have said it. I really am sorry, Marinette, I am!" he said firmly.  He wondered briefly how the kwamis were reacting to the situation. Probably laughing. He heaved a heavy sigh and lifted his head.  

"You said that already," she choked out, her voice small. 

"Do you accept my apology?" 

Marinette held her breath. 

"No. No, not yet. But I'm getting there."  

Adrien stood up abruptly as though her simple negative response wounded him. 

"You know, Mari," he began soothingly. "I'll be here whenever. Plagg! Claws out!" Plagg appeared from beneath a few stacked bricks. 

Marinette watched in wonder as the bad luck fused with Adrien. 

He grabbed his silver staff and sat upon it like it was tree branch. He extended it just enough to stay at the building's height so he could still see Marinette. 

"Do you need a ride back home?" he asked. 

Marinette nodded, stood, and dusted herself off.  

"Come on, Tikki, it's time to go." 

She wrapped her arms loosely around Chat, who let himself wrap one arm around her and fall backwards. 

Marinette squealed and tightened her grip as the cold air whipped around her. They fell backwards and rushed to the concrete. Chat took his staff and threw it forward so they would fling forward toward Marinette's home. The lights were slowly dimming as they came closer to the bakery. From rooftop to rooftop, the two swung. Marinette breathed the fresh air, it's cooling effects calmed her down greatly. 

Soon, they reached her balcony. She landed softly through the window onto her mattress. Chat hovered at the entrance for a few seconds. 

"I'll be leaving then, my lady," he whispered, as to not wake up anybody in the house. His face soon disappeared from Marinette's vision, but she could hear his footsteps beginning to leave. 

"Adrien?" Marinette called out. She waited a few seconds before standing on her bed. She looked out of the window as he returned. 

"I-do you-Well, I just-" she coughed. His eyes had heavy purple bags beneath them, and he seemed to move slowly. He was tired, stressed, and nervous. Marinette cleared her throat. 

"You can stay here for a while. If you want. We can talk and stuff," she squeaked. Try as she might, Marinette could never hold grudges any longer than a few hours. 

"If that is what you'd like." 

Several times had Plagg entered and exited Adrien's ring that night, and he was even more irritable after each one. 

"Plagg," Marinette whispered to the kwami in a singsong voice. "There's some cheese downstairs." 

She giggled as the kwami zipped away. Fron the corner of his eye, Adrien watched as a small red blob raced towards the door as well. 

Adrien smiled at her. He knew that she was cross with him, and he knew she was happy with him, but he was happier to know that he was here with her and she didn't hate him. 

She inched closer to him.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you," she said. 

"I'm sorry for not telling you," he replied. There must have been some truth to frogs getting caught in throats because Adrien could barely breathe. He tapped his hands on his leg as though it were a piano and there was a simple song he needed to rehearse. 

"You're such a silly cat, do you know that?" 

"I am perfectly aware that my silliness reaches a catlike level." His heart raced at the sight of Marinette's smile. 

But then she punched his arm. 

"I'm still mad at you. All this time, Adrien! I liked Adrien, but then assumed he didn't like me, and then Chat comes along. He helps me and drops silly flirty comments, and then Adrien starts talking to me more? It was a mess!  _I_ was a mess, and now? You two were the same people!" 

Adrien chuckled, his heart warming, until it grew it a spluttering laugh and he could barely breathe. 

"Yeah, and I loved Ladybug and then along comes Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I won't lie to you, Mari, I was seriously considering calling this a date, but y'know. I had to tell you and-"

"You were going to call this a date?" Marinette nearly shouted, flushing. 

"Yep." 

"Oh," Marinette began. She was a quiet a moment before continuing. "We could make this a date, if you want to."

"What do you have in mind?" 

"Er-we could watch a movie in my room with cookies or something." Adrien hummed. 

"That sounds good to me. Though, I have an idea." 

"And what's that, silly cat?" 

"We could always try a kiss," he said lightly, hoping if it were said light enough that she may take it as a joke if she didn't want to kiss him. The tips of her ears began to burn. 

"Maybe we could." 

Adrien leaned forward. 

"Do you want to?" he asked. 

After a quick nod from her, he came closer. He pressed his lips lightly to hers and listened to cars that blared quietly somewhere beneath the sound of his heart pounding wildly. Sure, as  _Chat Noir,_ he flirted as easily as though it were a sixth sense, but  _Adrien?_ Nerves get the best of everybody at some point. 

He placed his hands gently on her waist, his thumbs making small arcs. He thought he would pass out when Marinette turned her head slightly and pressed her lips against his even harder. He felt her hands run up his spine into his tidy hair. When she pulled away, she cleared her throat. Her face was so red, he wondered how he did know sooner that she was Ladybug.

Marinette smiled at how his cheeks had blossomed into deep red. 

"So what movie did you want to watch?" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave comments and suggestions for what you'd like to see in the next chapter!


	7. And If You Can Forgive

"Are you still upset with me?" Adrien asked, sitting facing the wall.

"A little."

"I apologize."

"You said that already, crazy cat." 

"I'll probably say it forever," Adrien said, smiling at the nickname. 

Adrien was quiet for several minutes after that. 

"You know, this movie is one of my favorites," Marinette said as she browsed the selection. 

Adrien didn't mind what movie she wanted to watch. She settled on one about mustaches and bread, and pulled her backpack up with her. She pulled out several notebooks, opening to pages of quickly written notes. She scratched a few extras notations into the paper. 

Marinette was laying in her bed, vigorously scribbling answers and equations down. Her eyes were heavy, tired, and annoyed. All the letters and numbers blended together, a sticky disaster with multiple solutions, and her stress slid off of her. 

As the movie's music played, Adrien watched her work, which followed the rhythm of a mistake here and there, erasing it, redoing the whole problem, sigh, do it correctly, repeat. It was like clockwork. He began to notice little things about her while she was focused. Her eyebrows scrunched up, she bit the right side of her mouth, her hair fell down, and she tapped her pencil an awful lot. 

"Mari, do you want some help?" 

"No, I do not," she said sharply, glaring at the paper. She erased another messy equation. 

"Are you-" he started.

"If you're going to ask me if I'm sure, I will rip your whole head off. All of it. 100%," Marinette interrupted. She rewrote the equation. 

Adrien bit his tongue to keep from laughing. 

"Why not half of it?" 

"Why would I do that? Only half a head? That's ridiculous," she stated briskly, rolling her eyes at him. 

He spluttered. He covered his mouth in an attempt to hide his laughter. 

"I guess it is." 

The clock clearly read 6:36 A.M., it's light weakly illuminated his face. 

"Oh boy. Hey, Marinette, I gotta get home - see, there's a shoot today and I'm supposed to be up there getting ready in about10 minutes, and I don't want my father suspicious and I-"

"Adrien, it's fine," she said, turning to face him. "I'll see you later, right? At school?" 

"I-you-I mean, yeah, of course!" He stumbled to his feet, speaking quickly. "We can go get lunch together. Or something. Maybe. If you want to. Do you want to?" 

Marinette gave him a warm smile. 

"Of course, but you better get out of here, cat, or else we probably can't at all." 

Adrien's fluttered. 

"Right! See you later! Plagg! Claws out!" Though suave in his head, his constant pauses may have altered the image to Marinette. However, she thought it was unbearably adorable.  He slid open her window and disappeared.

"Bye, kitty!" she called out the window into the night. She watched him dart between houses before disappearing into the rising sun. 

She curled up in her bed. 

She had about 20 minutes to sleep. 

Perhaps she could survive with a hot shower and a large cup of coffee instead. 

 

At school, she felt like her face sagged. She could barely focus, and felt sick to her stomach. 

It would appear that Adrien was the same. They thought they could survive. 

They were wrong.

"Hey, Nino? Do you have any more of the energy drinks?" Marinette asked as she flopped down beside Alya. 

"Nope, fresh out I'm afraid," he said, shrugging. 

Underneath a pile of messy, blue hair, there was a long groan. 

"I'm going to die. I know it!" she said. 

"Why are you so tired, Marinette? Aren't you, like, a golden child or something?" Alya asked. 

Marinette sat up quickly. 

"Do you know how much math I had to do? I swear, it was like a mountain of math."

"Did you understand any of it?" Alya said. "If you stayed up doing it, it's probably a mess, Mari."

"I-well, you know, I'm very persistent." 

"Oh my God." 

"Oh, come on, Alya! I got it done! That's what counts!" 

"Let me see it," Alya said, reaching for her bag.

"Alya, I- no!" 

Alya glanced over it quickly. 

"10-7 is 17?" 

"That was the only one!" 


End file.
